State Department issues instructions for Diversity Visa Lottery for 2005 (10/26/03)

State Department issues instructions for Diversity Visa Lottery for 2005

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department has issued instructions for persons who wish to apply for the annual U.S. Diversity Visa lottery program, which will take place in November and December.

Starting this year, applicants will have to fill out an electronic form on a designated Internet website and will have to supply a digital (electronic) photograph. The department will no longer accept paper entries or mail-in requests.

The website - www.dvlottery.state.gov - can be accessed between Saturday, November 1, 2003, and Tuesday, December 30, 2003.

Under the program, persons from eligible countries can register for the chance to apply for an immigrant visa. Those selected at random and notified by the State Department are eligible to apply for one of 55,000 immigrant visas made available annually. (Note: 5,000 of these visas are designated for use under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act of 1997.)

Natives of certain countries are not eligible to apply for the lottery program because those countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years.

The State Department notice below contains instructions for registering for the lottery program, plus a listing of countries that are eligible, as well as those that are not.

Registration turns electronic

Effective this year, all applicants who register to participate in the Diversity Visa lottery program must do so electronically through a designated Internet website, www.dvlottery.state.gov. Applicants may access the website between Saturday, November 1, 2003, and Tuesday, December 30, 2003, to fill out the electronic diversity visa entry form. Paper entries and mail-in requests for diversity visa registration will no longer be accepted.

The Department of State is implementing the new electronic system in order to improve efficiency and make the diversity visa petition process less prone to fraud, thus making it less vulnerable to use by persons who may pose a threat to the security interests of the United States. The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 to provide for a new class of immigrants known as "diversity immigrants" (DV immigrants). The act makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. Applicants for Diversity Visas are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing. The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to citizens of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than 7 percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

For DV-2005, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because they sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years: Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

Requirements for entry

Applicant must be a native of one of the countries on the "List of Countries by Region Whose Natives Qualify."

Native of a country whose natives qualify: In most cases this means the country in which the applicant was born. However, if a person was born in a country whose natives are ineligible but his/her spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible, such person can claim the spouse's country of birth providing both the applicant and spouse are issued visas and enter the U.S. simultaneously. If a person was born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but neither of his/her parents was born there or resided there at the time of the birth, such person may be able to claim nativity in one of the parents' country of birth
Applicant must meet either the education or training requirement of the DV program.

Education or training: An applicant must have either a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of Labor's O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience. Applicants will also find a link to a Labor Department list of qualifying occupations at the Consular Affairs website: www.travel.state.gov.

If the applicant cannot meet these requirements, he or she should not submit an entry to the DV program.

Procedures for submitting an entry

All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. Applicants may prepare and submit their own entries, or have someone submit the entry for them.
The Department of State will only accept completed Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Forms submitted electronically at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the 60-day registration period beginning November 1, 2003.
The Department of State will send DV lottery entrants an electronic confirmation notice upon receipt of a completed EDV Entry Form.
Paper entries will not be accepted.
The entry will be disqualified if all required photos are not attached. Recent photographs of the applicant and his/her spouse and each child under 21 years of age, including all natural children as well as all legally adopted and stepchildren, excepting children who are already U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, even if the child no longer resides with the applicant or is not intended to immigrate under the DV program, must be submitted electronically with the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form. Group or family photos will not be accepted; there must be a separate photo for each family member.

Each applicant, his/her spouse, and each child will therefore need a computer file containing his/her digital photo (image) which will be submitted on-line with the EDV Entry Form. The image file can be produced either by taking a new digital photograph or by scanning a photographic print with a digital scanner.

If the submitted digital images do not conform to the following specifications, the system will automatically reject the EDV Entry Form and notify the sender.
The image must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format.
The image must be either in color or grayscale; monochrome images (2-bit color depth) will not be accepted.
If a new digital photograph is taken, it must have a resolution of 320 pixels wide by 240 pixels high, and a color depth of either 24-bit color, 8-bit color, or 8-bit grayscale.
If a photographic print is scanned, the print must be 2 inches by 2 inches (50mm x 50mm) square. It must be scanned at a resolution of 150 dots per inch (dpi) and with a color depth of either 24-bit color, 8-bit color, or 8-bit grayscale.
The maximum image size accepted will be 62,500 bytes.

If the submitted digital images do not conform to the following specifications, the entry will be disqualified.
Applicant, spouse, or child must be directly facing the camera; the head of the person being photographed should not be tilted up, down or to the side, and should cover about 50 percent of the area of the photo.
The photo should be taken with the person being photographed in front of a neutral, light-colored background. Photos taken with very dark or patterned, busy backgrounds will not be accepted.
Photos in which the face of the person being photographed is not in focus will not be accepted.
Photos in which the person being photographed is wearing sunglasses or other paraphernalia which detracts from the face will not be accepted.
Photos of applicants wearing head coverings or hats are only acceptable due to religious beliefs, and even then, may not obscure any portion of the face of the applicant. Photos of applicants with tribal or other headgear not specifically religious in nature are not acceptable. Photos of military, airline or other personnel wearing hats will not be accepted.

The entry

There is only one way to enter the DV-2005 lottery. Applicants must submit an Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form (EDV Entry Form), which is accessible only at www.dvlottery.state.gov. Failure to complete the form in its entirety will disqualify the applicant's entry. Applicants will be asked to submit the following information on the EDV Entry Form.

1. FULL NAME - last/family name, first name, middle name.

2. DATE OF BIRTH - day, month, year.

3. GENDER - male or female.

4. CITY/TOWN OF BIRTH.

5. COUNTRY OF BIRTH - The name of the country should be that which is currently in use for the place where the applicant was born.

6. APPLICANT PHOTOGRAPH.

7. MAILING ADDRESS - Address, city/town, district/country/province/state, postal code/zip code, country.

8. PHONE NUMBER (optional).

9. E-MAIL ADDRESS (optional).

10. COUNTRY OF ELIGIBILITY IF THE APPLICANT'S NATIVE COUNTRY IS DIFFERENT FROM COUNTRY OF BIRTH - If the applicant is claiming nativity in a country other than his/her place of birth, this information must be submitted on the entry. If an applicant is claiming nativity through spouse or parent, please indicate this on the entry.

11. MARRIAGE STATUS - yes or no.

12. NUMBER OF CHILDREN THAT ARE UNMARRIED AND UNDER 21 YEARS OF AGE.

13. SPOUSE INFORMATION - name, date of birth, gender, city/town of birth, country of birth, photograph.

14. CHILDREN INFORMATION - name, date of birth, gender, city/town of birth, country of birth, photograph.

NOTE: Entries must include the name, date and place of birth of the applicant's spouse and all natural children, as well as all legally adopted and stepchildren, who are unmarried and under the age of 21 years, excepting those children who are already U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, even if you are no longer legally married to the child's parent, and even if the spouse or child does not currently reside with you and/or will not immigrate with you. Note that married children and children 21 years or older will not qualify for the diversity visa. Failure to list all children will result in your disqualification for the visa.

Selection of applicants

Applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. Those selected will be notified by mail between May and July 2004 and will be provided further instructions, including information on fees connected with immigration to the U.S.

Persons not selected will not receive any notification. U.S. embassies and consulates will not be able to provide a list of successful applicants. Spouses and unmarried children of successful applicants under age 21 may also apply for visas to accompany or follow to join the principal applicant. DV-2005 visas will be issued between October 1, 2004, and September 30, 2005.

In order to actually receive a visa, applicants selected in the random drawing must meet all eligibility requirements under U.S. law. Processing of entries and issuance of diversity visas to successful applicants and their eligible family members must occur by midnight on September 30, 2005.

Under no circumstances can diversity visas be issued or adjustments approved after this date, nor can family members obtain diversity visas to follow to join the applicant in the U.S. after this date.

| Home Page |